Musings of the moment

PART ONE: Understanding Our Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 14:53:00 +0000

Introduction

"Leveraging influence when you lack authority"

I am reading this simple yet effective set of tips in the book "How to Lead when you're Not in charge" (by Clay Scroggins). I liked this book, specifically, because it ties biblical concepts in the context of day-to-day life. Also, Clay uses illustrations from his personal experiences and from famous movies, books, personalities etc. that we can easily relate to. Here is the first part in the series of cliff notes on the book. If you are interested in reading the book yourself, here is the link to the book on Amazon.

What is leadership?

We grow up learning that the opportunity to lead is only possible when we have the authority to lead. First, Clay points out that this is not true and helps us relearn the right perspective on leadership on step at a time. He is helping us cultivate the influence needed to lead when one is not in charge. Leadership opportunities are everywhere. We just are too busy that we miss many opportunities to lead along the way. Each of us can begin right where we are. If you wait to have the authority to lead and that opportunity never comes, you have wasted your time honing your leadership skills in areas that were there for the taking. Influence always outpaces authority. Practice leading through influence rather than authority so that you can lead well when you are in charge. Because leading well when you are not in charge requires you to have a clear understanding of your identity.

Your Identity

Next, Clay takes us through evaluating our identity as a potential leader. Unless we are clear on who we are, we cannot work on developing our leadership style that is true to our personality. If our identity remains unstable, then we will flip through different versions of ourselves that we need to be for a the specific occasion; Leaving us confused and unsatisfied. We all know and have experienced that we can only pretend to a certain extend. Eventually, we will gravitate towards who we really are. So, your identity is based on

Your past experiences
How you sense others perceive you
Your God given hard-wired personality
The purpose you were created to serve
Your priorities in life.

Once you believe in your God given identity, you will be a fearless leader. Clay reminds you, and I agree, that our thoughts and feelings will lie to us. We will need God's voice to be louder than our feelings and thoughts to achieve the full potential that God purposed us with. Even if you are not leading today, your leadership ability is being developed by building your identity. Sooner you realize your identity, the sooner you start leading without being in charge.

But ... Why?

Finally, Clay points out that before you embark on how to lead when not in charge, you need to understand why you are or want to be a leader. A distortion in your why can cause heartburn along the way. This distortion is hinged onto your ambition to lead. When your ambition to lead is trampled by the lack of opportunity or eventually killed, you will not become a leader driven by that ambition any longer. When your ambition is uncontrolled, you may get to the top but you will trample others along the way and potential reach the same fate - a failed leader. You should neither kill your ambition to lead nor let your ambition to lead run wild. You have to give space for the ambition to grow, to be pruned and find that razor thin balance between the extremes of ambition to lead. This balanced is called the "Kabash" Leader.

Summary

Leading when you are not in charge, requires to have a clear understanding of leadership, clear view of who you are, and why you are the leader. Stay tuned for remaining sections from the book.

How callous are We?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 15:00:00 +0000

It has been a while since I have penned anything. But this email newsletter I received via Make Way Partners prompted me to post my thoughts and appeal to my friends to think about priorities, evaluate the need and support this ministry in any way they can. Here is the post to the newsletter.

Some days are better than others

Make Way Partners

Make Way Partners (MWP) has been serving South Sudan for a number of years now. Each newsletter highlights one of the many horrendous stories of children and women being brutally killed, maimed and captured for trafficking. Only highlighted stories make the newsletter. However, as we learn more about the ministry, there are ways to help them support children's needs by sponsoring a child, sending supplies, donating online to MWP etc. I encourage each of you who read this blog post to visit MWP and challenge you to walk away from the stories unchanged.

I know there are many more countries, communities and cultures where human life is no more valued. Just wanted to share one among many for your consideration. God bless you and transform your heart and mind to serve the needs of those who have no one else.

Call to Action

If this newsletter piques your curiosity or you care to dig deeper, please visit the MWP President's blog
If you would like to support the organization in reaching out to the vulnerable, please click here to choose your method of donation.

Integrity is very important to me

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 23:17:00 +0000

CORPORATE PROMISE

This quote may or may not be from Warren Buffet but the quote hits home nonetheless.

PERSONAL PROMISE

The Oath I have pledged to follow

Sir/Ma'am

I shall live with perseverance in the spirit of Taekwondo

having honor with others

integrity within myself

and Self-Control for my actions

Sir/Ma'am

Reference : http://www.ataonline.com/taekwondo/skills.asp

The 4th Monkey

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 12:25:00 +0000

An updated picture of Hear No Evil, See No Evil and Speak No Evil

Start with Why

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:24:00 +0000

I recently completed reading (actually listening to the book on Audible.com) the book "Start with Why" (by Simon Sinek). According to the book, most companies start with What they do, followed by how they do it but have no clue why they do it. For this reason, most companies have short term successes and get ousted by various manipulation strategies. I don't have experience leading companies but have yet to be part of one that knows why they are doing what they doing.

Defining why we do something is very hard but once we do it drives us towards sustainability. People cannot explain why they like something, even though they try or think they can, they just feel right. Thus, Why is defined by the feeling while what is the tangible outcome of validating this why

Take away from this book for me is that

When you compete against others, you may win or loose depending on who is better a given day or time.
When you compete against yourself to be better than the last attempt you march towards sustained satisfaction and will never get exhausted.

If you do something without knowing why you are doing it, you are bound to get bored, frustrated and demotivated from the task at hand, eventually failing.

Others thoughts are welcome!

Scrum in Daily Life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:23:00 +0000

As I went through scrum training to get my CSM (Certified Scrum Master) credentials, I realized that I was applying scrum in my daily life without using the corresponding jargon.

My personal week starts with a Sunday night review (Sprint Planning) with my spouse (Product Owner ) on the major work to be completed (Sprint Goal) by next Sunday. We prioritize the mandatory items (Sprint Backlog), leave room for day-to-day tasks (Ops mode) and take up (Estimated) work that each of us could accomplish (Sprint Commitments) by the end of the week. On a daily basis (Daily Scrum) before going to bed, we celebrate completed work (Done), evaluate upcoming commitments to ensure we are on track (Sprint Burndown & Discussing Impediments). Apart from all this, we frequently check with each other, when we have questions or conflicts (Collaboration). So even without getting the training, I was already following scrum to some degree. I am sure most of our work-life balance pans out similarly.

Hopefully, we see the application of scrum beyond software programming. I do! I am glad I took the training to enhance how I approach my problems.

A link from Scrum Alliance on why Scrum may be the right fit for solving your problems. The page will also take you to additional information beyond why.

Minimizing impact of Product dependencies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:22:00 +0000

ALWAYS commit to features based on known or available features of shared components
SOMETIMES commit to features based on features of shared components being made available in the next sprint or two.
RARELY commit to features based on dependency added to the shared component's backlog.

Reference: http://www.leadingagile.com/2015/03/3-thinking-tools-for-minimizing-dependencies-between-products/

Data Science and BIG Data are not the same

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:21:00 +0000

WHAT IS DATA SCIENCE

Big Data is the buzz word that drives a lot leading software tools such as Hadoop, Pig, GreenPlus, Exadata etc. The industry talks about Big data following the 4 Vs - Volume, Variation, Velocity & Variety

However, Data science is about making sense of the data, experimenting with various hypothesis and presenting the findings consistently. It is harder to quantify a science of data than size and rate of the data.

http://simplystatistics.org/2013/12/12/the-key-word-in-data-science-is-not-data-it-is-science/

Also came across a different 4th "V" aka Value. Volume, Variety and Velocity are beyond our control but the Value we derive from the data is the key derivative of Data science.

Happiness Index

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:19:00 +0000

Typical Sprint RETRO questions: What should we start doing, keep doing and stop doing?

Here is how we could try this determine the happiness Index.

Each team member will answer the following questions.

On a scale of 1 – 5, How do you feel about your role in the company?
On the same scale, How do you feel about the company overall?
Why do you feel the way you do?
What one thing would make you happier in the next sprint?

Each person will answer these questions to help identify the one thing that will be the top improvement. This one top improvement item will need an acceptance criteria to be guage the level of success.

Based on the book "SCRUM: Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time"

A company using Happiness Index indirectly is Zappos

An Honest Confusion

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:12:00 +0000

Backdrop

A few my ex-colleagues live in my neighborhood and hence we decided to have a potluck as a family. We agreed on a date and time. The event was being held at our home.

The event was memorable. The food was great. Kids had a blast. We had enough left overs to last for days.

Next Day

My 3 year old wakes up and after the usual morning routine comes down to the main floor. He is unsure of what he wants for breakfast and beginning to whine and complain. Then he spots a gift bag against the wall with some confetti and a cardboard box in it. He goes for it and is about to put his hand into the bag and I tell him "Oh! Don't pick that up. That is trash!"

[The gift inside was so pretty that my wife put it up in its rightful place for display and forgot about gift bag. It lay there for the night.]

My little one stops, looks at me confused and blurts out "They gave us trash!?!?#@?"

The entire house erupted with laughter and we talked about this for days and kept laughing.

An honest confusion at best!

Management: How to get yourself heard?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 19:33:00 +0000

"How do you suggest we solve the problem?"

Having the ability to identify problems with a solution has its place. That is called risk assessment. However, if someone always finds problems without suggesting alternative solutions, such individuals will have a tough corporate life.

A close colleague once advised me to focus on 3 basic components to get myself heard and respected.

Identify CAUSE => Assess IMPACT => Provide RESOLUTION

Before you raise the problem to your management team, do your homework to identify the causative agent, impact of fixing and/or not fixing the root cause and how it could be fixed.

So you not only have raised a problem or found issues with a reason to solve it but you have also prepared to deliver a solution long term.

Reviving my blog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 19:24:00 +0000

I started the blog with some vigor but that energy and zeal had to be directed at other major personal events. I am ready to revive my blogging again from now on. Worst case, I might just post a silly joke.

My goal is to publish one post every week

School Project Survey Request

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:07:00 +0000

I need your help on a school related project. My MBA program requires capstone project where my classmates work in groups to design a business in concept and on paper. Below is a hyperlink to a 15 question survey. The survey will take about 3 minutes and will provide us the data we need to determine the demand for our product. This is not a real business, but our research tells us that it has some potential to become one. My teammates and I appreciate your time and careful consideration to our questions.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GTEMBAMOT17ST

All survey data you enter will be anonymous.

Thank you
~Tiji

My Son's quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:44:00 +0000

1) I posted this on facebook a while ago but I remind Joshua about his innocent comeback all the time.

Me: "That is a bad idea!"

Joshua: "No Papa. That is not a bad idea. That is my idea!"

2) After joining the iFanatic crowd by buying an iPad and later our iPhones, my son's observation "Papa, now that you have your iphone, the iPad is MINE!"

3) Joshua sees the ad for Activia on TV and starts explaining it to us. We usually keep the ads on mute. :-)

"When you eat activia, it will push the yellow bubbles down. Activia is good for you papa. Less sugar" [I am scratching my head "huh"]

Have a blessed day!

My Neighbor's Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:36:00 +0000

I don’t hate animals even though I don’t own one. I like dogs, just not my neighbor's dogs. I wanted to share a sour experience with my neighbor and did not know what to do about it. I also want to share some of the ideas that I have researched on the internet but did not find it appropriate. Either because I am not such a person or I afraid of what my neighbor would do next.

They (there are 3 of them) are always off the leash. 2 of them are as big as 5 year old child and the 3^rd is a little tiny dog. They always pee and poop on our front yard and my neighbor would not pick up the poop. We could not do anything about the pee. I searched for ideas, to respectfully and politely approach my neighbor to let them know that we were not happy about their dogs using our lawn as its dumping ground. Based on the research, when I caught their dog in the act, I decided to approach neighbor right away. Fortunately, the lady of the house was just getting out of her car and I walked over to talk to her about the incident.

Me: “Hello Mrs. Neighbor, Your dogs just pooped in my yard.”

Lady: “My son is in the army. They are his dogs”

Me (confused and surprised at the response): “I don’t care who your son is or where he is but I don’t want your dog(s) to poop in my yard“

Lady (She is walking away from me as she says this): “They are not my dogs. It’s his (husband’s) dogs. I always tell him to keep them on a leash but he has a mind of his own”.

I was unhappy about the exchange and I head back home, thinking what does being in the army have to do with respecting your neighbor’s property. A few minutes later, my neighbor walks over to my home and knocked at my door. He had a superficial grin on his face as he apologized for not picking up after his dog. Reluctantly, he scooped the poop from my yard.

Mostly, in the mornings and late afternoons, when he is about give the dogs their exercise he lets them out of his house without a leash and they scour the neighborhood looking for a place to mark their territory. I have not seen poop in my yard since the apology but I am continuing to watch and let them know if they don’t pick up after their dogs.

Based on the research, these were some of the responses I found but did not want to do.

1. Scoop up the poop, put it a brown paper bag and hand it to the neighbor saying “Hey, Just returning it to the rightful owner. Have a great day”

2. Scoop up the poop, put it a brown paper bag, light it up at the neighbor’s door and ring the bell. (Hoping that he puts out the fire with his foot)

3. Call the Home Owner’s association and request them to issue a warning to the neighbor.

4. If you see the dog off the leash, then notify animal control and they will issue a fine or a warning for not following the state law.

5. Report the neighbor to the police.

In order to prevent another exchange with the neighbor, I put a natural (main contents = White Pepper, Thyme etc.) cat/dog repellent around my front lawn and my back yard. It was working for some time until a good day’s rain washed it away. I plan to use that as often as I have to.

I pray that God would put some kindness into my neighbor’s heart to avoid any further distasteful exchanges.

Stand & Move Each Hour

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:53:00 +0000

This was an email forwarded by my father in Law. it definitely applies to me and most of us doing desk jobs.

Ten Things You Should Know About Sitting (Original Reference):

1. Most of us sit too much. The average person sits more than 8 hours per day. Many office workers sit as much as 15 hours per day. Think about all the sitting in your typical day; sit at breakfast, sit on your way to work, sit at work, sit on your way home from work, sit for dinner, and then sit to watch TV or surf the internet.

2. Sitting puts your metabolism to sleep. 60 – 90 minutes of inactivity (like sitting) is enough to shut down the enzymes responsible for producing HDL- the "good" cholesterol, and for regulating blood sugar. Chronic inactivity is now thought to contribute to our diabetes epidemic.

3. Sitting is harder on your back than standing. Sitting tenses the hamstrings and causes a flattening of normal curve in the low back. This distortion of the spine increases the internal strain of the back. Sitting upright or sitting in a forward bent position is particularly hard on the back.

4. Sitting with an open hip angle of greater than 90° reduces back tension. Sitting in a reclined posture, thighs-declined, or even slouched back against the back cushion can reduce tension in the spine. This reduces the hamstring tension and shifts some of the upper body weight onto the back cushion.

5. Sitting provides more stability and control for detailed work as opposed to many types of stand up work. Sitting is easier on the Musculo-skeletal system (except as noted above in number 3).

6. An hour of daily exercise won't counteract the negative health effects of sitting. Running, biking and other types of exercise are great for improving fitness, but they don't counteract the negative health effects of prolonged sitting. Exercisers who sit most of the day are known as active couch potatoes.

7. You need to stand and move each hour or more to maintain health. Sitting puts your metabolism to sleep. Movement like standing, walking, and other leg-muscle activity stimulates your metabolism and restarts your body.

8. Adjust your chair for comfort, support, and movement. You chair should fit you and your physique, and it should allow for a variety of postures and movement. Adjust the back rest cushion up/ down to fit the curve of your low back, adjust the seat height for a comfortable leg support, and set the backrest to allow supported relining and movement back and forth. While seated, you should fidget, squirm, contract / relax your muscles, and flex / extend your legs. Remember movement is good, sitting still for long periods is bad.

9. Your best posture is your next posture. There is no single best ergonomic posture. Most experts recommend a variety of positions and postures including these four reference postures; upright supported, reclined seated, thighs declined, standing.

10. Don't sit, if you can stand, don't stand, if you can walk. Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin both knew that standing for work was a good thing. Both of these great Americans had stand up workstations.

Start walking!

Iron Man vs. Sugar Man

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:43:00 +0000

This is not the next Iron Man movie. I was interested in the recent reference, at my church during regular Sunday worship, to the different type of individuals (personalities) that we interact within our family, friends, and relatives. The message from my vicar was about recognizing the particular type of personality in ourselves and others to enrich the quality of life for oneself and those around us. The original reference to the 4 types of individuals was made by my vicar to emphasize the verses from the scripture (Mark 10: v17 - 22). I expanded the reference to share my version about the types of people.

A sculptor made 4 statues, each of different materials. He made each statue and immersed them in a gallon of water in the evening. Strange sculptor J. This is just story with a message. Play along.

1. Iron Man

2. Sponge Man

3. Mud Man

4. Sugar Man

The next morning, the sculptor came back to check on the state of his statues.
Iron Man: There was no change to the color or state of the water or the statue.

These are the type of people that would neither hurt you if you argued with them nor help if you lay there dying in front of them. Do not put your hopes on such people. If the iron statue stayed in the water too long, then it would begin to rust and slowly poison the water. At this point, such heartless and indifferent people will do more harm than nothing in the long run. Beware!

Sponge Man: There was no water left. The statue had soaked up the entire gallon.

These are the type of people that would suck the soul out of your life, money from your wallet, and peace out of your mind, leaving you shriveled & drained. Do not stay in their company too long. If the sponge stayed in the same place for too long, all the water in it would evaporate leaving it with nothing to soak up. At this point, such parasites would not survive if you leave them with nothing to feed on. These people live only as long as they have others to live off otherwise they are nothing. Beware!

Mud Man: The statue was not found but the water wasn’t clear either.

These are the type of people that would take you down with them. Their philosophy is that if they are suffering then you should suffer with them, if they are about to fall they will pull you down with them. If the mud statue (which was not to be found) was kept in the gallon of water long enough, the mud would have settled. The water would be clear as long as the water is not shaken again. But no matter how hard we try the mud at the bottom still holds on to some of the water, even if we try to drain clear water. Such people will leave us depressed and hurt for the longest time since they take a piece of us every time they pull us down with them. Break free before you need to get to rehab or counseling. Beware!

Sugar Man: The statue was not found either but the water was clear still. The sculptor tasted the water and it was sweet.

These are the type of people that would serve others happily and make the surrounding worth living. These people are hard to find but if you ever find someone like this try to make them your mentor, learn from their experience and pass it on to others. If the statue stays longer and water starts evaporating, the water would be sweeter than before. Even after such people are gone, they leave so many pleasant memories. They leave an impact on our souls that we should pass on to others too and not selfishly hold on to it.

Ultimately, helping each other and making others life better will help make the world a better place.

God Bless you!

I Time Travelled to meet me

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:51:00 +0000

This novel blogging tag originally came from Emily Barton and to me from my close friend's little sister Nasia.

It’s basically an imaginary time travel and what I would do if I meet a younger me.

Rules:
1. Depending on your age, go back 10, 15, 20, or even more years.
2. Tell us how many years back you have traveled.
3. Pretend you have met yourself during that era, and tell us where you are.
4. You only have one "date" with this former self.
5. Answer the questions.

I have decided to go back 17years ago to 2 weekdays before the annual exams for the 9^th grade

He is standing at the assembly ground along with the rest of the school. Only this time, for the first time, he has got to stand at the end of the line, which otherwise would have been taken by the taller boys of his class. The class teachers as usual are standing behind each class. The school prefect has to give the command to students but he is not to be seen. And suddenly his class teacher nudges him to go to the stage to give the command. He is about **** in his pants. Stage fright has strongly gripped him and he is slowly and nervously walking to the stage. He reaches the stage and watches all the other students stare right through him. He is on stage, with closed eyes, sweaty palms and a dry mouth. He faces the school with his eyes still closed, yells at the top of his voice “Attention!.... Stand at ease!... Attention!”. He did it. He opened his eyes feeling relieved only to realize that everyone else had their eyes shut for the morning prayers that followed.

1. Would your younger self recognize you when you first meet?
Sure. But he would not be surprised as he was overweight then and I am still plump as before. Our faces would still look the same only that I have less hair than the unkempt, mildly curly hair he had.

2. Would he be surprised to discover what you are doing job wise?
He was clueless then about what he wanted to become then so he was pretty much going to be running along with the majority of the crowd.

3. What piece of fashion advice would you give him?
Get a better haircut and not to comb the hair backwards or sport a long hair (that hardly grows) that curls into his shirt collar. He will be the brown version of a plump “Fido Dido”

4. What do you think he is most going to want to know?

Did he invent something or discover something in the future and become famous.

5. How would you answer his question?
“Nooooooo! I am just an average joe making a decent honest living.”

6. What would probably be the best thing to tell him?
Focus on his studies and get the maximum education he can before joining work. Work life is nowhere near the school life on many aspects of life.

7. What is something that you probably wouldn't tell him?
He would still make a living in spite of average grades in professional college.

8. What do you think will most surprise him about you?
He got on a merit list to get into a professional college and is now settled with family abroad.

9. What do you think will least surprise him?
His love for Kit Kat never went away.

10. At this point in your life, would you like to run into "you" from the future?
Just a glimpse would not hurt. But I would not go through this questionnaire with my future me.

Pass it on and see if you would like to share your blast from the past story.

How to Split a Queen Box Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 04:06:00 +0000

After we moved into our new house, we realized that the only item that could not be taken upstairs through the stairway was the Queen box spring. We needed new bedroom furniture. We got frustrated trying to shop for platform beds to overcome the limitation of the stairway. There was nothing in our price range or any customizations undertaken at major furniture retailers. We searched for "Queen Split Top Box Springs" but most stores did not carry them, for us to see or feel, before the purchase. We would end up paying delivery charges if we tried purchasing online, which eclipsed the online deal. In one of our searches, we came across an idea of splitting the box spring ourselves and join the cuts upstairs. The video is illustrated on You Tube. There is also well documented set of instructions at this site as well.

My wife and I decided to save some money by attempting to split our Queen box spring to move it to our bedroom upstairs. We combined the information from the Video and site to split our box spring. We brought the required tools from Home Depot and got to work. Our box spring was folded and taken through the stairway to our bedroom in about an hour. We joined the split wood with the metal plates and our box spring is usable now.

Just wanted to share a few tips since we went through with it

- Keep kids (especially toddlers) far away from your work site as possible. They want to be extra helpful and could hurt themselves.

- The difficulty of folding the box spring will depend on how much metal is built into the frame of your box spring. Ours had no metal and I would say is the easiest

o The video and link shares information on the ones that are more difficult to fold.

o DO NOT cut the springs or metal frame only the wood.

- Be careful with the staple gun.

Doing this and having it work has a tremendous sense of self satisfaction.

It worked for us and we hope it works for you too (if you need it).

The Dentist's Office

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:07:00 +0000

This is a personal account of my experiences at different dentist's offices that some of you could relate to.

Have you ever been to a dentist's office and simply run through the events that lead to a sore mouth and an empty pocket. Even if your insurance covers it, you still pay a decent amount that will never match the amount on your EOB (Explanation of Benefits) from your insurance company. Amidst the back and forth between your insurance company and the dentist's office, on most occasions the dentist's office will have some of your money with them. Mostly, the additional amount gets credited to your next visit. But that’s not why the visit to the dentist would be interesting. The things I found interesting were during visits for plaque removal and wisdom tooth extraction.

For teeth cleaning, the funniest thing was that the hygienist would ask you questions while they have an umbrella shaped siphoning tube in your mouth. You would agree that the questions are mostly never the yes/no type, where you could have given a thumbs up or thumbs down. Instead, you feel silly when the hygienist looks at your face for a response and you twitch your eyebrows and try to telepathically tell them "How, in God’s name, am I going to respond with that contraption sucking at my throat?"

Sometimes, it does not stop with the questions. They would tell you to raise your arm if you feel uncomfortable when they dig their tools into your gums to remove plaque from your teeth. The funny thing is, they are mostly facing you while performing procedures and asking you subjective questions, without having your hand in their field of vision. You would have to shove them to grab their attention to your raised hand. Instead, if you move your head to react to the uncomfortable pricking, the drill might knick something more delicate (inside the mouth).

For your wisdom tooth extraction, I believe it would be something like this. You entered the dentist's office and checked in. As you wait for your turn at the reception along with other patients, a cheerful anesthesiologist opens the door and holds it for you to come inside. It seems like you were being welcomed at a theme park to enjoy the visit and have fun. Instead, you were lead into the surgery room that drains the entire charm of the welcome greeting. The surgical equipment and informative charts on the human body, just scares you even more. Drum roll...

An experienced (hopefully) dental surgeon and the assistant would enter the room to cheer you up (unsuccessful) and scamper around with their checklist, ensuring that they had everything they need to attack you in your sleep. The anesthesiologist asks you to breathe into an apparatus that seems harmless. Now, the dentist asks a few funny questions that you could barely remember yourself agreeing with a smile and then… lights out. You had no clue what was happening to you when you were sedated. Just imagine that you had a gap in your memory because of the surgery. May be the excruciating pain from the tooth extraction is not worth the emptiness in your memory map. All you knew, when you woke up was that you had lost your wisdom… wisdom teeth, that is. You realized you were sitting in a wheelchair, unable to comprehend anything for the first few hours and vaguely remember your loved one or friend helping you into a car and driving you home.

Next time you go to the dentist, just observe and feel better when you know that most of us are in the same boat with you.

Cheers!

Ground Turkey - Side Dish

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 05:36:00 +0000

This is attempt to share a simple Non-Veg recipe that would let you enjoy your own cooking. It is also available on Pachakam.com.

Ingredients

Ground Turkey - 1 lb (substitute with your choice of ground meat)
Large Onion - 1/2
Green Bell Pepper (capsicum) - 1/2
Garlic - 2 pods
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 Tbsp

Utensils

A Round Casserole/Deep medium size non-stick Saucepan (It should be able to hold 1 lb of turkey while stirring)
Wooden spatula (mix the ingredients)
Knife (Serrated preferred)

Directions

Dice the Onions and Bell peppers into the smallest piece possible using the knife. The idea is to have the smaller pieces cook quicker and absorb the flavors.
Dice the garlic pods and keep it aside.
Heat the cooking utensil of your choice and add the oil into it.
Once the oil has warmed up, add the chili powder and turmeric into the pan and swirl it around so that powder blends into the oil and starts turning brick red to light brown.
Add the diced onions and bell peppers. Turn heat to medium high. Stir them till onions are translucent and the bell peppers have a pale green color.
Add the garlic and stir it for about 2 min on medium heat.
Add the ground Turkey and mix it into the sauteed onion and bell peppers.
Keep stirring the ground turkey till you see no more pink any where.
You will notice some water accumulating towards the bottom of the dish but that is normal. Stir the turkey around a little more to reduce the water at the bottom.
Turn off the heat and let it sit on the stove for a few minutes.
You may use this preparation in a wrap, sandwich, or make a meat pulao

Hope this is simple and interesting for all you first time chefs.

NOTE: I am not a chef or a master cook, but a guy who would like to help with some simple dishes when I am the only adult in the house.

Cheers!

Kuwait to Kozhencherry and the ARC

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 18:42:00 +0000

These incidents and accounts are from my oldest memories as a child, which may have been eclipsed by my maturity as a 10 year old.

We had returned to Kuwait after enjoying our summer vacation in India. It was 2nd August 1990, when the Iraqi Troops invaded Kuwait and the Kuwaiti military along with the royal family was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia. There were a lot of political, military and humanitarian efforts in the months to follow. Amidst these international players, we were an average Indian family, living in Kuwait to support the dependant family members back home. My Mom was a nurse at a major Kuwaiti Hospital. My Dad was heading the accounting division of a Japanese insurance company based in Kuwait.

Dad had not gone to work that day and Mom had just returned from the hospital after her night shift. We were getting calls from friends and family sharing the news that Iraq had invaded Kuwait. My Dad was in shock and feared for the family's safety. None of us were prepared to receive this news. We spend the day in the home not knowing what to do or what to expect in the future. After about a week, living off supplies at home, we came to know about the US troops and other allies had landed to negotiate our freedom with Iraq. We ventured out and gathered some more groceries at whatever price we could find and stored it at home. We heard rumors that Indians and other foreign nationals were given the opportunity to go to the United States, or a safe passage out of Kuwait.

All along the roads, outside buildings and passenger routes, I could see military personnel with guns standing guard, flanked by tankers at certain locations. One night, my parents pulled me out of bed, along with my 2 siblings (1 sister and 1 brother), and taking us to the balcony of our apartment to look into the clear night sky. With sleepy eyes, I looked at the glowing object moving across the night sky. My eyes opened wider in excitement, thinking that it was the preview to a huge fire show. I thought "A flying ball of fire! WOW! That was awesome!" In contrast to my excitement, my parents' faces were pale with fear and I did not understand why. Now I know that they feared for our safety and worried about getting back home (Kerala, India) in one piece. I believe that, it was the moment when my parents mustered the courage to get back home rather than stay in an unstable and dangerous place.

We packed up whatever we could, and drove to a place where buses were lined up to carry refugees to a camp site, somewhere in Jordan. We had to abandon our car and board the bus as directed by the officials. We were on our way to Amman, Jordan where refugees were stationed until resources were available send us forward on the next journey. On our way to Jordan, we were stopped at the border to go through a vehicle inspection and passenger count. The officers ordered us to open the luggage compartment of the bus. Some male passengers volunteered to pull the luggage out from the bus. They decided to open 3 random boxes and the volunteers picked what were not theirs. Surprisingly, all 3 suitcases that were pulled out, belonged to us. My dad and mom were pissed at these volunteers. The border patrol officers opened the (our) luggage, ransacked its contents and took some items for keep sake. They left the rest for us out of kindness for travelling with 3 children. Best thing was we are going forward and not detained for any reason. The rest of the journey from the border to the camp was rough and chilly.

We reached the camp and were assigned to camp "B", Tent # 35. It seems there were 4 camps spread across the dessert (A, B, C and D), Each camp seemed to be graded based on the amenities and supplies being provided. We were sharing a tent along with 2 other families without children. The floor of the tent was nothing soft but a plastic sheet between the uneven gravel beneath and us. We were provided with 3 adult sleeping bags. Since we reached around evening, we were getting ready to sleep. The night was chilly, with the wind blowing over the tent and under the sheet making creepy noises that we never heard when we used to live in our cozy homes. The 3 of us cuddled close to Mom, since we could not sleep flat on the gravel. We used Mom as our pillow. My Mom took the pain of the additional weight pushing her back against the gravel and never complained. Now, I see the comfort we received just being around her.

The life at the camp lasted for a few more days. Each morning, a truck of military personnel, with an ARC member would bring a crate of food consisting of fruits, vegetables and canned fish. The only way to cook these vegetables and fish was to boil them on a single piece stove. My parents ensured that we were nourished with the best of the food available to us. My brother and I wondered around the camp looking for any familiar faces every morning. We came across the common shower area where people used to collect water needed for cooking as well. There was portable toilet near the shower area. As we crossed the common area into camp C, we came across one of our cousins who are also making the same journey we are. We came back to our tent and let dad and mom know about the same.

This morning we (Brother and I) again set out on our adventure, and asked our sister to wait with mom at the tent. She was hesitant but stood there seeing us walk into the maze of tents in camp B. As we walked from one tent to another, we came across a familiar family that stayed in our building back in Kuwait. All the uncles were sitting in a circle and playing a card game known as "28". We were busy watching the card game and happy seeing some familiar faces. We were engrossed in the card game, that we lost track of time. We were about to head back when we heard an announcement in the distance. "This is the American Red Cross. We have found a little girl in Camp B who seems to be lost. Is anyone looking for a little girl, 5 years old?" We were alert and curious now and decided to head towards the sound. As we were getting closer, we could see a couple of people with the megaphone still announcing the details of the lost girl. We walked toward them and they were walking towards us as well. As they got closer, the little became visible. We were surprised and shocked. My brother and I looked at each other, thinking "Mom and Dad are going to kill us because they have always expected us to watch out for our little sister". Now, the ARC volunteers were close enough for our sister to recognize us and she pointed to us. We approached the ARC official and told them that the little girl was our dear sister. They asked us for the tent # and we directed them to tent #35. My Mom and Dad were surprisingly calm thinking that our little sister was with us. However, on seeing the Red Cross Volunteers holding our sis, my Mom burst into tears thinking something bad had happened. The volunteers told mom the story and she was staring at us from time to time. My Dad was silent probably dumbstruck from the incident that we almost lost their youngest child. Our sister was able to remember that we lived at "B thirty something" and that helped our Red Cross move towards the B 30s. Good thing she remembered something. Even better was that Mom tried to teach her our location.

American Red Cross (ARC) has made an impact at so many levels - individual, family, community, and country. This time they had an impact on my family. I did not understand who they were or what they did but we have been indebted to them ever since.

After this incident, we were more careful for the rest of the stay at the camp. We got our turn to travel to Baghdad where we would be flown to India. We travelled through the desert and reached a very large hotel in Baghdad, flanked by Euphrates and Tigris rivers. We sat beside mom in the carpeted corridor while Dad frantically ran around to gather information on getting us on the first flight to India. My Dad always succeeded if he put his mind to it. He managed to get us a flight to take us to Mumbai. We reached Mumbai Airport, went through customs, and head out to my aunt's place in sub urban Mumbai. We spend a couple of days with them and headed by the next flight to Trivandrum. We had our uncles (Dad's 2 brothers) receive us at the airport and take us to our home town, where my Dad grew up.

We were finally home, relieved, physically tired and emotionally exhausted from the roller coaster journey from Kuwait to Kozhencherry. We survived the loss of our dearest member of our family, my little sister.

The ARC is available on a variety of Social Media to connect with. Find a local chapter and volunteer to make a difference. I would request you to find your cause and support it through one or more organizations of your choice. The support you provide today might circle back to you or to someone you love. Even if it does not, at least some stranger somewhere is praying thankfully for the generous contributions for their well being.

Cheers!

Boss Type = Opinionated

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:04:00 +0000

If you are a working professional, you may have come across a boss you reported to or worked for; who never lets you deliver an output the way you think is right. Welcome to my experience with the "Opinionated" boss.

Characteristics

Authoritatively asks you to perform tasks a certain way, even though you don't agree with it.
Makes technical suggestions over your shoulder, even though they never worked on the technology, instead just read a blog or article about the pros and cons.
Asks you for effort estimates for delivering something, and then sets timelines at 1/4th (exaggerating the precise reduction) the estimates.
Spies on your activities while walking across your desk at least 5 times in an hour.

Impact

Keep asking myself, "Why can't s/he do it this way? His/her method is too monotonous and time consuming? How will get this done by the deadline?". Frustration starts to build up on each task.
As a technical resource, I do not like people staring at my work while I am at it. If I tune out the person staring over my shoulder and the person starts making technical suggestions, the frustration that was building up slowly picks up pace.
I start whining and venting to colleagues about my boss's behavior and this negativity contributes to my depression.
All this leads to less productivity at the task I am assigned, resulting in recording a poor performance due to an opinionated boss.

My Solution

I analyzed my boss's situation. "Is he really such an opinionated person or is his boss making him to be that way?” I think most opinionated bosses are an image of the actual character of the person. I tested this by inviting my boss during a work break and discussed random topics. Since he was not letting me finish my thoughts or was trying to impose his ideas on me, then I concluded that he is an opinionated person. I would have to guide my boss's opinions in my favor. Get the word from the horse's mouth. This became my first satisfactory response from my boss.
Next, I indulged him in a technical discussion with more than 1 person, especially including a senior technical resource, under the pretext of reviewing my work. I ensured that I do not say or show that the boss is wrong. Instead, I shared my idea with the senior technical person, and asked their opinion in the presence of my boss. The boss could not deny the feedback from the senior resource and hence I was able to put my ideas into action. Another victory!
Since He was cutting my effort estimates to 1/4th, I started padding more time so that 1/4th of my estimates is just what I calculated. Adaptability is the key.
Now, my discussions with my colleagues were more about how I outsmarted my boss. Very positive and happy me. Hurrah!

One last thing I did was that I transferred to another boss to make him realize how valuable I was. Thunderbolt!!! . He found another lamb to work on and I jumped from the frying pan to a boiling pot. Here I came across another type of boss.

Bachelor's Bread Egg Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:02:00 +0000

This is the simplest food that one could make when you have never cooked a single dish in your life.

Bread Egg

Ingredients:

Bread - 2 Slices
Egg - 1

Directions:

Ensure that the Egg you are about to use is at Room Temperature, (if you store eggs in your refrigerator).
If you are a beginner in cooking, then use thin and heavy item to deliver a precise, light tap, just enough crack the shell but nothing comes out. If you are an expert, you would not be reading this recipe. :-)
Open the Egg shell along the cracked lines, to transfer the contents of the shell to the warmed skillet.
Puncture the yolk to spread its contents to cook the egg entirely.
Sprinkle some salt and pepper to your liking and flip the egg on to the same skillet. If you think you cannot flip it while the upside is still fluid like, then cover the skillet with its lid and keep it no low flame until the steam under the lid makes the upside white with the yolk no longer visible as bright yellow.
Turn off the heat and place the cooked egg onto a slice of bread.
Apply any condiment, like Mayonnaise, Ketchup, or Mustard on to the other slice of bread and place it on top of the egg and first slice of bread.
Your Bread Egg is now ready to be devoured.

This is what I decided to share today. Will try something more interesting next time.

3 Favorite Chocolates

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:45:00 +0000

This blog is being started to get into the habit of posting something everyday. As part of this initiative, this is the first random post on this blog. I am going to write about the fantasy I had in my childhood days. Actually, I have this fantasy even today. Chocolate, I believe, is associated with desire and fantasy. Chocolate makes you feel good. I love chocolate so much that I wish for a world where eating chocolate does not have any negative effects on our health and physique.

My 3 most favorite chocolates are
1. Kit Kat
2. Bounty
3. Twix

Kit Kat, the king of all chocolates
in my fantasy world, makes me drool, sends me into a state of awe and reverence for such a wonderful invention. I would like to thank the creator, who came up with this awesome combination of wafers covered in Milk Chocolate. Even though Kit Kat is globally available under one brand name, the taste or likability of a Kit Kat is not the same across countries. So far, I have tasted Kit Kat from USA, UK, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Germany, France and India. The one I tasted from India was not to my liking but the rest of the countries had a consistency. I guess the taste of the Kit Kat in India is being altered by the tropical climate and method of storage in the local shops. There are chocolates made in India like the Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk, Perk, Munch etc. that are mouth watering and soul soothing confectioneries, but the Kit Kat from India has disappointed me.

Bounty, the thick, and unique coconut based chocolate is my personal favorite. My friends and cousins, who I have grown up with do not share my same liking and fan following for Bounty. A miniature version of the Bounty, according to me, is the coconut filled milk chocolate from the Macintosh Quality Street treasure. I don't know how they seem similar, inspite of coming from different companies. Bounty coming from Mars Inc. and Macintosh coming from Nestle. Any one could try making the milk chocolate filled with coconut mixed with sugar, but unless the ingredients are in the same proportion and one masters the consistency of the proportion and quality, it cannot be made into a Bounty.

Twix, the sophisticated, and textured wafer - caramel - milk chocolate combination is the last soul soother, I would search for if the world runs out of Kit Kat and Bounty. Twix, cannot be enjoyed when it has been kept in the fridge for too long that, the caramel is too hard to chew. Also, it cannot be enjoyed when the caramel has oozed out of the milk chocolate cracks, making the caramel taste more sweeter. The right time to eat a Twix is when the bars have been cooled down and the bars can be broken easily with the hand without having the caramel ooze out. That is when you will enjoy the twix to its fullest potential.

I have been writing about my 3 favorite chocolates and now all I can think of is buy one of each at a minimum. I am off to satisfy my desire. Hope you enjoyed the blog and are going to get one of the 3 atleast. Cheers!